Trails of Vietnam

One of the best group trips (and I have been on quite a few) I have done simply due to the wonderful country, lovely warm locals, excellent guide and fun fellow travellers! We travelled on many modes of transport - bus, boat (motor, kayak, paddle), train, plane, bike, foot - saw a wide variety of landscapes - countryside, small villlages, big cities - learned (more) about the old and new history of this incredible country and experienced a wide variety of foods. We did visit some homes and centres where the locals showed us how they made items such as clay pots, toffee brittle, embroidery paintings etc; never was there pressure to purchase anything which made the experience that more enjoyable. This trip has everying - just do it!

What a fantastic two weeks we had in Vietnam made all the more special by our lovely group and excellent guide. We had a great mix of activities from trekking to kayaking, temples to palaces. Buses, boats , trains aeroplanes and not forgetting bicycles. So many highlights to create some lasting memories. We sampled lots of authentic food and had a good mix of traditional to fancier restaurants. So good to stay at the homesteads and support the local people as well as some lovely hotels esp Hoi An.

Excellent, very well organised and thoroughly enjoyable.

Really enjoyed the variety of activities and being able to see so much of Vietnam in two weeks. I felt the tour was both enjoyable and interesting. The trip was quite fast paced and provided a look at a lot of different aspects of Vietnam. The activities such as the hiking, visiting caves, kayaking and biking meant there were plenty of opportunities for movement and exercise.

2 weeks filled with various activities from hiking through the rural forest and rice paddies to kayaking in the reservoir and Halong Bay to Cycling in the Mekong Delta. I couldn't have imagined a better way to see Vietnam than this trip as it covered the countryside to the cities! I particularly loved Hoi An despite the monsoon season starting earlier in October, it was so pretty to see it come alive during the night when all the lanterns were lit up and the boats went down the river.

This trip is a really interesting mix of activities, biking, hiking and kayaking, along with sightseeing. I felt that the days were quite busy but it maximized what I was able to see in Vietnam. Though not inexpensive, I would recommend doing the extension to Cambodia. The temples were absolutely breathtaking.

A full flavoured trip, high octane with activities and culture combined. We were a group of 5 + leader.

A great way to see lots of the country and experience different aspects from Cities to the Hill tribes

From the manic traffic in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Cities to the more relaxed ones for Hoian via the countryside in homestays this trip offers something for everyone. It is not strenuous, and you get a good introduction to Vietnam, its history and it people and customs. Our tour guide was beyond excellent with her calm efficiency, her care and her sense of fun. Food was plentiful and the sites were great. Get yourself some tailormade clothes in Hoian, meet some monkeys from your kayak in Halong Bay, dress like the dzow tribe in the hills. Have a hairraising trip on a Cyclos through the busy traffic!

This is an amazing trip that just kept on giving every day. The variety of activities was perfect, from walking around Hanoi, the boat trip to Halong Bay, cycling, stays in three different home stays, to watching the water puppets and overnight train journeys. This trip is at a leisurely pace, the hiking part is relatively easy walking and the cycling is on flat roads. The food in Vietnam is wonderful, everything cooked fresh with dishes to suit all dietary needs.

This trip was really amazing, we also had an absolutely wonderful Guide. There is such a great range of places, I had been worried about the amount of travel but all the journeys are an adventure themselves! The only thing is I think the activity level should be far lower, there was almost no exercise and anything there was was so leisurely. Really would reccomend

Definitely not a relaxing holiday, but if you're looking to immerse yourself in a unique and fascinating culture, this may be the trip for you! It's busy, you pack a lot in via a range of modes of transport. You cover a huge amount of miles (I loved the sleeper train!) but the rewards are great.

Ashley Thuong guided this trip with a huge amount of expertise and dedication. She made it exciting, enjoyable and great in every way. I loved every moment and would thoroughtly recommend this itinerary.

Fast paced trip from north to south Vietnam yet with time to explore the places we stayed in. We slept in a great variety of places from lovely hotels to sleeper train via three great homestays and overnight on a boat and enjoyed the varying sights and tastes of the country as we travelled.

Just completed the Trails of Vietnam holiday. Great experience. Very full-on trip which requires stamina rather than fitness. It gives an excellent flavour to Vietnam. Every day is different. The homestays, hotels and restaurants were all well chosen. Here's my video of the trip https://youtu.be/VpW1TxlsAWI

Wow, full on Vietnam! This trip was great, if a little rushed at times. You get to see a lot of different areas of Vietnam, from rural villages to chaotic cities. Also many varied experiences such as religious sites, historical sites, walking, cycling, kayaking, boat trips, cooking class, local music and dance shows. Be prepared to be on the go most of the time.

This trip was FULL ON. The activity level maybe doesn't reflect the amount of actual physical exercise taken on the trip, but it does reflect the pace. It was completely non-stop from touchdown at Hanoi airport, to hikes and village walks through the hills of the north and absorbing all the culture of Hue and then down to Saigon and the beautiful Mekong Delta. 6am starts and late nights made for a lot of naps required on the bus but to pack this inspiring and amazing country into 16 days was a definite success!

The whole experience exceeded my expectations. The trip had a great mix of experiences, my personal favourites being the Halong Bay boat trip and Mekong delta homestay with added birthday cake (surprise from our guide, Tung) for the August birthday celebratees.

This was an action packed adventure holiday with different places to visit and activities each day. The itinerary allowed time for homestays in three different places including a very remote and rural hill farm and the homestays, trekking and cycling activities helped us to understand the country better and meet some of its wonderful people. There were so many photo opportunities in each destination. The trip truly allowed us to experience the varied climate, cultures and cuisine of Vietnam, including opportunities to sample some excellent home cooked local meals. The activities were moderately strenuous and the Leader always ensured that everyone was happy and included.

This is a packed 2 weeks, travelling the length of Vietnam on a huge range of transport. Coach, airplane, overnight train, boat, kayak, bikes and hiking. We got up close and personal to real Vietnam people, staying several nights in home stays.

It's a while since we have done this sort of trouble, engaging, demanding yet with the luxury of a private guided tour. 10 hours on a Dreamliner and you are plunged into the teeming chaos of Old Quarter Hanoi. A mixture of sharp modern and decrepitude, high-tech phones and spiders web cables. And the motorbikes! There are 45 million and they are either on the road or blocking the pavement thus making road walking essential but dangerous. From the steamy challenges of Hanoi to Sa Pa at a cool 1600 meters. Virtually nothing remains of the old French hill station; in 20 years a whole new tourist city has arisen with hundreds of hotels. The contrast with the surrounding ethnic villages is stark: Red Dzao women with shaved eyebrows and foreheads elaborately attired in traditional bright embroidered outfits live in large, rudimentary cedarwood houses. Mud floor, three open fires without chimneys, one for cooking, one for the rice vodka still and yet another for curing hams. No windows and lit by a single bulb, pigs and chickens wandering at will. Below are the perfectly contoured rice fields, vegetables at the base plus odd quirks like orchid, cardamom and salmon farms. Government has provided concrete roads, schools and health centres. Satellite dishes, mobile phones have arrived and motorbikes have replaced horses.... Almost all of that in the last 10 years. See it now before it is gone.

Fab

A brilliant trip! Great combination of staying in busy cities, rural home stays and an overnight on a train! Cycling, hiking and kayaking. Sightseeing and culture. A beautiful country and lovely people. Delicious food and everything ran like clockwork!

I am very happy with Exodus travel. First time I was using a big organization and a tour operator with a big group. I must say I was positively surprised! The trip was very well managed and well structured as an overall. The local guide did an incredible job and he was the best guide I ever had. The group was great and I was lucky to be with such good people. I have really enjoyed and spend a great time together. I am also happy with the back management of exodus in London. With all the info they have sent and how they have helped me from remote. Only point: to improve the chat online service as I still had to call to make the payment and give my card details on the phone. Maybe add a paypal system or a more user friendly card payment (that accepts cards from outside UK or similar... anyways my credit card payment didn’t go through online and had to call to the UK... which was a bit expensive from Dubai)

Our trip was arranged by Thidara for our family of four - my husband, myself and our two 20-something daughters. We asked for a trip which incorporated sight seeing with some more adventurous activities and some opportunities to do things independently. The itinerary met our brief perfectly. We were able to see the main sights on our list with interpretation provided by our excellent guides and also do kaiaking, cycling and visiting a cave which was off the regular tourist trail. We travelled by boat, overnight train, plane, bicycle, tuck tuck as well as dedicated minibuses with our trusty drivers braving the incredible traffic! It was a fabulous trip which was made all the more enjoyable as all the stress was removed due to the reliability of our guides and the detailed organisation.

I've been to Vietnam before, but this trip was completely different. This time I felt that I was really getting under the skin of the country to understand how ordinary people, rather than emperors or presidents, live. At each of the homestays we had the opportunity to chat with the families we were staying with and to ask them questions about things as varied as their daily working routines, the pressures they faced, family structures etc. and had the experience of staying in a typical family house. In addition to that there was a packed agenda of sightseeing visits, activities and eating that left me happily exhausted by the end of the trip.

excellent trip with many highlights and brilliant guide --Son Nguyen

This was our first Exodus trip and we were so impressed. The trip is action packed and Vietnam has so much to offer. There was a reasonable level of activity (walking and cycling and a kayaking trip), combined with a chance to immerse yourself in the culture of the country and meet the local villagers. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to maximise their time in Vietnam and get a really good feel for the country.

A busy trip, which gave a great overview of Vietnam, but with enough activities so that It didn't feel a sightseeing tour. There were journeys to be made but there was always a fun activity to look forward to. Vietnam is a fascinating country, and we met lovely people along the way.,

A busy trip, which gave a great overview of Vietnam, but with enough activities so that It didn't feel a sightseeing tour. There were journeys to be made but there was always a fun activity to look forward to. Vietnam is a fascinating country, and we met lovely people along the way.,

Overall, this was a very enjoyable and active trip which enabled us to get a good undersanding of the different areas and lifestyles of the people from the hill-tribe villages in the north down to the islands and floating market traders in the Mekong Delta. Unfortunately, we were all disapointed when we were told that we would not be allowed to stay on our boat in Halong Bay overnight and would not be able to enjoy the planned kayaking around the islands. We had not made aware that this could happen. Following on from this we had a full day in Hue when it rained the whole day, whilst we did visit the Imperial Citadel and Thien Mu Pagoda (in the rain) it prevented us cycling to other planned places of interest. Once we had flown south to Ho Chi Minh City and the weather improved (+35C) our moral was restored and we enjoyed a very active and varied 2nd half of the tour.

My experience if Vietnam was an adventure from start to finish. The highlites for me was the mountain trekking and staying with local tribes, experiencing their culture, food and kind hospitality. The homestay on the Mekong Delta was mind blowing, again the culture and food experience was unforgettable. Our guide Phi was excellent with his knowledge and aptitude for organising us, I felt privileged to have been able to learn so much about his wonderful country.

Vietnam is a beautiful country full of friendly people, stunning landscapes, delicious food and hectic cities, and this trip encompasses it all along with some activity thrown in the mix!

An excellent 2 week trip exploring the culture, nature and history of a beautiful country which, despite its complicated history with war, was one of the most friendly and welcomes places I've visited.

Trip didn’t get off to best start due to industrial action at Air France but Exodus went the extra mile to sort things, superb service as I’ve come to expect!!! Great trip too ... put it on your bucket list.

We were a group of 7 representing 5 nationalities. The size of the group bonded us quickly and kept it that way through out the trip. Couple with an excellent guide it was and will be remembered as a memorable trip. Before booking a trip in January or February check to see when the TET holiday will occur and decide if potential deviations from the standard trip notes will have an impact on what you want to see and experience. TET is not a festival, rather a holiday period for the Vietnamese people to leave the cities and return to the country to spend time with their families. Millions of people are on the move which starts with the Vietnamese New Years Eve. All told we experienced the impact from Day 5 through Day 13 of our trip. Some guide books will advise you not to visit during TET as you will experience closed businesses and the businesses that remain open often hike their prices. While the hotels are operating restaurants options are limited and may only offer a set course meal to serve to tourists. Our guide was constantly adjusting our schedule to accommodate for TET--substituting a cycle day for a kayak trip, locating someone to do our laundry while in Hoi An and of course picking our restaurants. On the plus side there was less traffic to deal with.

Just returned from this trip The Trails of Vietnam and we have had the time of our lives. It’s the first time as a couple we have attended a group holiday and we were a little nervous about how we would mix with the 12 other participants. We need not worry as our group were all of a similar age group (50 plus) and we all got on very well indeed. The group leader was called Thanh Vo although he preferred to be called ‘Ten’. Ten was a absolute legend and made the whole trip so enjoyable and he was professional and knowledgable throughout. The balance of activities is perfect and the organisation was impeccable. We stayed in homestays with families in the Vietnam countryside and in some rather nice hotels in the towns and cities. What struck me is we never had to spend time waiting for anything. When we’d arrive at a hotel we didn’t have to all queue to check in. Instead we would immediately be given our room keys and sometimes our bags would already be waiting for us in our rooms. There are times when you need to pack for just 2 nights and leave your big suitcases at the hotel so take a rucksack too. The whole transportation of our baggage was very well organised throughout. The overnight train is also great fun and its surprising how well we all slept on this journey. In some of the home-stays you are all in the same room (although you do have privacy) and the odd snorer in the group may keep you awake so take some earplugs! The cycling was a reasonable length of time but do take gel cycling shorts to prevent a sore bottom. There is absolutely NO need to take a saddle or helmet as the equipment provided is of a high quality. The walks/hikes were not too taxing and were very scenic and done at a leisurely pace. There are plentiful times to do shopping to buy ‘original copies’ shirts/bags/trainers etc. The bus journeys are done a very comfortable bus with plenty of room and WiFi onboard with suitably spaced out refreshment/toilets stops. We chose to relax and conserve our energy on the bus journeys and they were also some of the funniest parts of the trip too. This really is a wonderful holiday experience. Go for it!

This was an intensive two weeks of exploration, adventure, learning and physical challenge. As the holiday approached, I had begun to feel some apprehension as to whether I (aged 65 )was fit enough for all the activities, especially the longer cycle rides. From the first day, on arrival in Hanoi, we fell in love with Vietnam. The expertise, knowledge and support of our fantastic guide, Bac, helped us to meet all the challenges, including the 40+ km cycle ride on tracks along the Mekong Delta. All the members of our group 'gelled' very quickly. This was fortunate as the day after arrival we were off to our first home-stay with hill-tribe families where we all shared sleeping quarters and limited washing/toilet facilities in a traditional long house! This was supposed to be the dry season. We expected it to be a little cool in the North but it was really quite cold and damp with unseasonable amounts of rain. In the south it was warm but also wet. Nevertheless, we found the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Vietnam to be thoroughly alluring even if the more distant mountain views on our hill treks were shrouded in mist - still very atmospheric! Don't expect to have much time for relaxation - the schedule is pretty tight. This tour gives you a really good taste of the country, from North to South and also perhaps, a desire to return to spend more time exploring in greater depth and at greater leisure!

Great trip but a lot of time traveling. Which if you can sleep on buses is great as gives you a chance to catch up. It really is a on the go all times trip. But the locations and different cities is worth it.

This trip is non stop.. you see and do so much with a fun, knowledgeable guide. There is nothing we were not happy with...brilliant experience

This trip is non stop.. you see and do so much with a fun, knowledgeable guide. There is nothing we were not happy with...brilliant experience

A fabulous experience, not least because Vietnam is such a varied and beautiful country with vibrant, hectic cities, enchanting villages and wonderfully welcoming people. This trip gives you the chance to experience all aspects of life in Vietnam and the excellent service you receive from the tour leader means that you can relax and fully appreciate everything on offer.

A full on and intensive tour of the many facets of Vietnam, giving a flavour of this extraordinary country. Be prepared for long days, but you will be richly rewarded often seeing parts of Vietnam that other tourists may not see. As always the trip notes are very accurate.

I really enjoyed the hilltribe trek. The food at the home stay was excellent.

Once again Exodus did not fail to deliver, the was an amazing holiday covering a vast area of the country. The activities were great and very well organised. Our guide, Tham, was amazing, very knowledgeable, attentive and social. She looked after out every need. The food was great and the local people were very welcoming and happy to help.

What an amazing holiday we had. Thanh our guide had expert knowledge about every aspect of our trip and of every place we visited. The trip was very organised from every transfer, every type of transport, minibus, train, bike, kayak and plane all went off without a hitch. Thanh was also very good at keeping a large group together and in the right lace at the right time. From the wet humid north to the dry humid south Vietnam is a fascinating place with friendly - mostly happy people who live on next to nothing. Very humbling.

A lovely group, an efficient guide and a varied itinerary, we got to see a lot of Vietnam, a beautiful and exciting country. It was definitely a holiday that left me with some brilliant memories. The only thing which let us down was the rain in Hue and Danang with its consequent inactivity.

The Trails of Vietnam trip is a full-on, busy trip which packs a huge amount in to the time available. You travel the length of Vietnam and enjoy a wealth of adventure on the way. From the hills of the North to the deltas of the South, you will meet and speak with many local people and gain an understanding of their way of life, the history, culture and food of Vietnam. We had a fantastic group of 16 very different and interesting people who all got along so well together.

Viet Nam is a stunning country full of breathtaking scenery, friendly people and a rich and colourful history and culture. This trip packs a lot of punch into the two weeks and covers just about all of the main highlights the country has to offer. This is due to a very well organised itinerary and great organisational skills from the group leader. The food was the best I've tasted anywhere in the world and the variety and freshness of the dishes was huge. If you like seafood this is the place to visit! Got to mention the local beers as well - each region produces its own local beer so the trip from start to finish is a great beer tour! The hiking, cycling and kayaking were all excellent and amid some of the most amazing and varied scenery that I've experienced. This was topped off by visits to some excellent pagodas and temples and famous landmarks throughout. I stayed for an extra week after the end of the trip to visit the beaches and even after three weeks in Viet Nam I still didn't want to return home!

I picked this trip because it was a great blend of cycling, hiking, sight seeing, shopping and kayaking for a 2 week tip in Vietnam. I loved that we got to get out of the cities and walk amongst the hill tribes of Northwestern Vietnam or cycle amongst the farmers and fishermen of the Mekong Delta. But I also appreciated all our city stops to experience the different characters and cuisine of the cities throughout Vietnam. It was also fun that transportation varied from buses to boats to ships... This trip was just a fantastic blend of activities and exercise.